A Good Liar
by ajzeta
Summary: AU, OC "She was always a good liar." Did any of us seriously think that love would work out nicely for our coldhearted CEO? Of course not. And of course she isn't perfect. If anything she's the opposite of perfect: cold with a scarred past and blood on her hands. Even so, he can't take losing her. SetoKaibaxOC Bad name and summary but story's better.
1. Goodbye

**Just a little story I wrote a little while ago and finally decided to post. So this story starts off sounding ****_really_**** cheesy and OoC but it isn't actually that bad and I promise you it gets better as it goes. I'm generally not a fan of OC's having high involvement in stories. And I also generally don't like stories with Kaiba being in love. But I thought of this and I had to do it and now I'm posting it. And I didn't really know what to name the story so that's how you get that (I know it's a bad name but I didn't really know what to do).**

**Also, I have a 'Time 0' I guess you'd call it so all the time frames are in relation to that unless it specifies like '2 weeks after the above incident.' And keep track of the time, cause I don't go in anything remotely resembling chronological order haha. I'm sorry if it gets confusing at all but I think the story's better jumping around than if I just wrote everything in the correct order.**

**Thanks again for reading and brace yourself for this first chapter (especially the first time frame) because it is EXTREMELY cheesy and OoC (Again, I promise the rest isn't this bad. Please read past the first time-frame because as I said, the first time-frame is _really_ cheese and bad. Just trudge through it haha. I know if I started reading that I would stop right away, so please don't stop right after the first time-frame, thanks)**

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In the "Now" time frame:

Seto Kaiba- 20

Laken Bromden- 20

Mokuba- 15

Roland- Don't know, not too important (sorry Roland)

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh (insert 'but-if-I-did' joke here) I also don't own the characters except for Laken Bromden.

* * *

3 weeks ago

"I fail to believe you're human."

"Why is that?"

"Well people bother me. But you don't." She smirked.

"I assure you, I'm just a regular girl." He scoffed.

"Yes, because your life is just like that of every college student. It's close, but I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week."

"What's the second most?" He snorted

"That I'm in love."

"Well since I'm a regular girl and that's crazier, than I guess you're in love." She shook her head and smiled before taunting him. "So… Who's the lucky girl?" She looked him in the eyes as she mocked him and his eyes only looked back in return without much emotion, but without their usual coldness either. "Are you in love?" Her shiny eyes stared into his blue ones. She had bright green orbs and straight dark brown hair, almost like dark chocolate but richer in color, that went just past her shoulders. Now her hair was up in a pony-tail that would swing as she moved. She was thin but muscular and small, being only 5'1". She had a lot of scars, though few were visible at the time. The ones that were were some red marks on her arms and a long light streak across her face. It stretched from above her left eyebrow into her hair line, in between her eyes and a little over the right one, leaving a sky blue streak on her green iris, and down her right cheek to her jaw line. Icy blue met forest green and his softened as he pushed a stray lock of hair out of the girl's face and spoke quietly almost as a whisper.

"Unbelievably so."

* * *

(Hurray, first time-frame done! Thanks to the brave ones who mustered through! I'll stop interjecting now.)

* * *

Now

They say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But now that Kaiba stands in the empty hallway with the note in his hands and tears threatening his eyes, he isn't so sure. He continues rereading the note over and over to prove to his brain it's true but his vision is blurry from the tears forming in his eyes and he isn't so much as reading as trying to capture her soul in her words, trying to take in every bit of her handwriting because it's what he has left of her; that and the memories, but the memories come from his mind and the writing on the paper comes from her hand and his mind can't distort it. It's all that's solid and absolute and wholly her. He holds the paper firmly in his hands, refusing to let it go. He traces a finger over the graceful handwriting that he now knows is one of many she could forge. He feels a new wave of grief crash over him as he realizes that he will never know her true handwriting, just as he will never know her real name, and countless other things that he will never know about her. He even realizes that many of the things that he thinks he knows about her probably aren't true. But one thing he is sure of is that he knows that she, despite her countless flaws, her scars and evil doings, is perfect.

_Seto,_

_First thing I need to tell you is to make sure you immediately get really incredible security on you 24 7. You're in danger and I wouldn't be able to bear if anything happened to you. _

Kaiba took her advice and immediately called security to get on him.

_I'm sorry for everything I've done to you: the lies, the deceit, all the pain I've caused you over the past years… everything. And I need to explain to you that you're reading this right now because of another lie I told you. I'm sure you remember the night I told you about my job. A year later I told you I escaped. I lied. For that I'm sorry. For once I can say I feel sorry for something I did to someone, for a lie I told; and obviously this guilt and sorrow is misplaced. We both know I've done far worse. But that's one thing I'd like to thank you for now, is that when I was with you, I could feel bad again. It may not sound good, but being able to have negative emotions because of you is the greatest gift I've ever received. It proved to me that I was, in fact, human, just like I argued with you that I was. I've lied to you countless times, but now I can say honestly say that if I were given a chance to redo everything, I would have never met you, because I wouldn't want to cause you all this pain. Being able to feel enough for someone to want to protect them from pain is something I never knew, and you gave me that. So thank you. I haven't left earlier because I'm greedy as well. Now I leave for myself but also partially for you. I suppose I should tell you that the reason I am leaving now is because I didn't quit. Now I am because my next assignment… was you. This is why I tell you to get security going. You have probably less than 24 hours before they realize I'm gone because I'll be faking my own death and starting over with a new name. And this time, I promise you that I'm quitting. So prepare yourself because you're the target of assassins now. Good luck. Luckily I'm the best they had though. But still good luck. I couldn't bear for anything to happen to you. So Seto Kaiba. I love you. Thank you. And Goodbye._

Kaiba holds the paper in his still hands and runs his eyes over her eccentric signature over and over. And his thoughts return to few words in her letter: 'I told you I escaped. I lied… my next assignment… was you… I love you... Goodbye.' He wants to crumble the paper in his hands and tighten his grip around her words, but he can't bring himself to harm the sheet of loose leaf. He needs to preserve it, to keep it perfect and safe. Kaiba holds the paper and slowly squats on the ground to open his silver briefcase and put it in. He takes some confidential papers out of their protective folder and places the note inside instead. He locks up his briefcase and stands back up as some of his guards arrive and come to his side. He goes back to the mansion. He doesn't say a word to anyone and simply goes up to his bedroom and lazily allows himself to collapse on the bed facing the ceiling with a hand behind his head and the other over his stomach. He just stares at the ceiling playing with a button on his shirt and occasionally blinking. He doesn't even hear his brother knocking on the door and is only made aware of his presence when he opens it and the thin streak of light expands across the room from the hallway as the door swings open. He doesn't bother turning his head to look at Mokuba, who just stands in the doorway and watches his older brother. "Seto, what's wrong?" He feels a twinge of pain at the name. He only ever let 4 people in his life call him 'Seto:' his parents, now deceased, his brother Mokuba, and her. Now she was gone and he would never hear her say his name again. He stops playing with the button and rolls over onto his stomach with his arms crossed in front of him and his chin resting on them. "Laken's gone." He says it without emotion or looking at Mokuba. But he can tell that Mokuba is confused.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"She left town. She's never coming back and I'll never see her again." He continues speaking without emotion but he knows that Mokuba can probably tell he's hurt.

"Where'd she go? Why'd she leave?" Mokuba leans his cheek against his hand on the door frame watching his brother. Kaiba slowly sits up and looks at Mokuba's silhouette in the frame. He could see a little light on his eyes which he could see were wet. He sighs and looks away into the dark.

"Mokuba. You know that she had… done some things in her life, that she wasn't exactly proud of." Mokuba nodded gently. "But there were some things I never told you about her." Mokuba raises an eyebrow intrigued and lowers his hands into his pockets as he slowly walks over to his brother and sits next to him on the side of the bed. "You should know that she was an assassin." Mokuba's eyes shoot open and he scoffs at the idea.

"An assassin?" The sarcasm gushes from his voice. "Come on Seto, I know Bromden's done some questionable things but she's not an assassin." He rolls his eyes and Kaiba stares ahead. "Seto, do you really think this?"

"I know it for a fact Mokuba." A frown traces his previously stoic face. "She was always a good liar."

"But_"

"She told me 3 years ago, I've seen the blood, I know it's true." Mokuba looked utterly shocked. "She told me she quit 2 years ago… I should have known better, you don't just quit from that sort of job…"

"But… she was so_"

"I know Mokuba…"

"So why'd she leave?" Kaiba swallowed hard and closed his eyes and looked away from Mokuba. "Seto?"

"It's because she was assigned to kill me so she's going to fake her own death and leave." There was a silence that managed to pierce through the darkness.

"Someone's trying to kill you?" Kaiba nods.

"It'll be okay Mokuba. I have good security. And a lot of people have attempted at my life before."

"But an organization of assassins is after you!"

"Security's good Mokuba." Mokuba clenches his fists and becomes angry.

"Obviously not good enough Seto!" He's yelling and angry. Kaiba raises an eyebrow. "You've spent four years with an assassin and no one had any idea!" He looks away and closes his eyes tight as the tears come. He speaks facing away with tears in his voice. "I know she wouldn't because she loved you, but if she didn't love you. She could have just acted. You said she was a good liar. And she was just assigned to kill you! If she had been acting… You'd be dead… And I know it's different because you knew her. But you had spent time with her when you didn't know her that well and she didn't know you. If she had been assigned to you back then she would have had no problem with…" The tears run down Mokuba's face. He sniffles and turns to look back at his brother and almost gasps when he notices he's fighting tears. Mokuba throws his arms around him and cries into his shoulder. He composes himself but keeps his head in his shoulder. "Seto… Why are you so upset _now_? You're life's always at risk…" He lifts his head from Kaiba's shoulder and opens his eyes to look at his face. His eyes are still wet and tears are threatening to spill over. Mokuba buries his face again and closes his eyes as tightly as he can. He tightens his grip on his brother's shirt and tightens his arms around him too. New tears spill. "I'm sorry I made you fall in love with an assassin" he sobs out. Kaiba reaches his other arm across his body to pat his brother's head. His other arm is pinned down by his younger brother. He keeps imagining the words on the paper: '_I love you_.'

"You didn't, Mokuba. She did."

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**Wow, hope you survived that, but again, I promise the other chapters aren't as OoC or cheesy. It does get better! Promise! And thanks for reading, remember to review :)**

**-ajzeta**


	2. You Should Know

**Thank you so much for reading past that first chapter haha. Thank you Adorehim88 and EternalFire87 for your reviews I'm really happy you liked it :) Not as OoC or cheesy in this one (still probably a little though) Anyway, hope you like.**

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3 years ago

"Mr. Kaiba… There's something you should know about me." Kaiba looked up at her from the chess board and into her eyes. Him seeing emotion in her eyes wasn't uncommon. When she was around him her guard was normally down, or at least enough where he could look past the surface and see her soul deep in her eyes: pain, determination, and something he had a difficult time identifying that he had spent many nights trying to place it to no avail. What was odd about her eyes now was that the emotion was right at the surface. Her entire soul rested on the surface for him to see without trying. It was abrupt, and odd, they were just in the middle of a chess match and she normally called him 'Seto.' So he looked at her curiously and concerned with intrigued blue eyes waiting for her to continue.

"I've always told you that… that compared to myself your sins are… nothing…" She looked at the ground as she spoke and every so often tried to look him in his eyes but would immediately divert her own away.

"That I didn't feel anything when it all happened, and that I have a lot of blood at my feet and on my hands…" she looked back up at Kaiba with that unidentifiably quality in her eyes only at full strength on the surface, "but… I've never told you, just how much blood I've spilt." He sat silent for a moment before clasping his hands together and leaning his elbows on his knees.

"How much blood?" She looked silently at the ground and swallowed closing her eyes tightly. Kaiba almost missed her words. They were so silent they couldn't even be called a whisper, they were barely a breath. But he heard. "So much I've lost count." Her eyes opened and found her way back to his with that unidentifiable quality. "After what happened with my family… I was on my own. The will money went to my extended family. I lied to you about that." She had told Kaiba that she had received it. "I only had enough money to live for a year or so. But I also needed money for college." She bit her lip as she explained with her eyes slowly moving around the room as she spoke, only occasionally tracing back to Kaiba's. "So I needed a job, but it had to be really high paying, and high paying jobs are illegal and hard to come by for a 15 year old girl…" She closed her eyes and lowered her whisper. "I became an assassin…" She opened her eyes and locked them with Kaiba's. Kaiba was in shock. This girl, she was always so… so… nice and morally… a good person. Was he really sitting in his mansion at a chess board staring down an assassin? How? She was so innocent! Well, he knew she wasn't innocent, she had experienced evil and battled through it, but she seemed so… good. The entire world around them melted away and it was just Kaiba, the girl, and the chess board.

"How long?" He had tried to keep his voice composed and to an outsider it would have sounded that way. But she knew him too well now and was too observant so the slight choke and shock was obvious to her and he knew it. He saw her eyes becoming clouded and recognized that the wall was rising in them again so he couldn't read her. But her face asked him to clarify his question. "How long were you an assassin?" The wall continued building and she again answered him with her face. He couldn't believe it. He felt his head becoming light but didn't want to show it, but he couldn't and needed to grab the side of his chair to stable himself. He looked down at the chess board and allowed his dizziness to subside before looking back up at the girl's eyes, now entirely blocked by the usual wall. Instead of eyes and a soul, they were just green. They were just a color. But by her face, she looked to be challenging him in some way. She was waiting for him to speak next, she needed to know what he would say. He diverted his eyes away from hers and thought about the girl. He had so many questions, but he knew he wouldn't want to know the answers. So he had his head turned down with his hair blocking his powerful eyes. And he reached out to the chess board and made his next move.

… (about an hour later)

"Mr. Kaiba?" They never finished the chess match. Laken had gotten up and walked away during one of her turns to use the bathroom and hadn't returned. Kaiba went looking for her and found she was still in the bathroom. He knocked at the door.

"What?"

"Can I come in?" She opened the door and spoke.

"Mr. Kaiba?" He looked her in the eyes and she looked right at his, unafraid and confident with that quality he still lost sleep over. "I'm not just an assassin." An eyebrow of his rose as he stared down the girl. He had adjusted to the idea of her criminal activity and realized that he didn't actually care how many innocent people she may have taken the lives of. It made him uneasy that he was fine with it though. He wondered what type of a person he really was. "I torture people too." Her eyes still locked with his strongly and his stared strongly back, unfazed. "I truly am an awful person like I've tried to tell you." He didn't budge and kept his eyes locked on hers through the doorway. He moved his hands to the edges of the frame and held them there. He spoke quietly but strongly.

"I won't report you." He reassured her. She stood like she already knew that. And Kaiba realized it didn't matter anyway. He had no evidence of any sort and she spoke too quietly for any recording device to pick it up. And she trusted him completely not to or she wouldn't have told him.

"I know you won't report me. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't spend any more time with me." Her facial expression didn't change. "I've done lots of bad things to countless innocent people, Mr. Kaiba."

"I told you to call me Seto."

"I've done unforgiveable things to innocent people, Seto." He leaned into the doorway slightly and his voice dropped low and quiet, but strong.

"I don't care." It was definite and strong and cold. "If I'm messed up enough not to care about the things you've done, than I'm at the same level as you." Her expression changed slightly as she looked up at the man. He smiled slightly: a smirking sideways smile.

"Just not caring about it isn't the same as committing it." Her voice was no longer the sharp determination of before, just that of one stating a fact.

"But what if I were to say that I like that side of you? Surely that is unforgiveable." Her expression changed again as she examined the smirk on his face and his icy eyes and expression to confirm to herself if he was serious. "It's too late for me to just let you walk away." His eyes softened and his smile became more innocent. "You're my best friend. No matter how evil." She still didn't smile as she watched his face change expressions. She looked contemplative and evaluative, like she was trying to figure out what was going on in his head. They stared for what felt like hours, until she finally spoke.

"Are you going to let me out of the bathroom?" He did a half chuckle and looked at the ground, then back at her face seriously.

"Not until I'm sure you're not going anywhere." She nodded and he stepped away from the door. She hesitated then slowly walked out with her arms crossed.

"I can't make any guarantees though." She walked right up to him so they were very close. "I'll try to stick around, but in my line of work nothing's for sure." He looked at her smugly.

"Well, one thing's for sure."

"What's that?"

"I'll always be here for you."

* * *

4 months ago

Roland was standing next to his young employer, both men leaning against an old fence with the sun beating down on them, both too proud to sit on the ground or go sit in the bleachers. The sun was strong but they could tell that it was soon to change, storm clouds were approaching on the horizon. The girl approached them from the right as she was warming up, seeming to come from nowhere. She beamed at them.

"Hey guys!" Roland nodded.

"So when are you running?"

"Well I'm warming up now and we still have 100 finals and 400. Yeah, the order of events is weird at this one but whatever. So after those two I'll be running my steeple. Then I'll need to switch shoes and I'll have 800 and 32 before my 4 by 4." She nodded and a teammate beckoned her.

"Ok guys, gotta go now. Thanks again for coming." She gave a small smile and jogged away toward her teammate. Roland looked questioningly at Kaiba.

"So what was that about?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow at Roland's question.

"I know you know the order of events, you looked at the schedule so we'd get here on time." Kaiba smiled slightly at Roland who had caught him. He tried to fight it, but he couldn't keep himself from loving the devil. He asked her when she was running just to hear her voice.

"It's been 4 years now right?" Kaiba nodded.

"And 2?" Kaiba nodded again and Roland sighed.

"I hate to pry into your personal life Mr. Kaiba, but if it's been 2 years now, when do you plan on telling her?" Kaiba glanced back over at the girl to see her laughing smile and glowing eyes. He sighed himself. He didn't know the answer. He looked at the storm clouds in the distance. 'Soon' he thought.


	3. I Suppose I Was

**OoCness ahead!**

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2 years ago

Kaiba sat in his office just typing away at his computer and securing some business plans as usual when his phone started ringing, still usual.

"Mr. Kaiba, I have the Domino hospital on the line. It sounds serious." His secretary sounded concerned and his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Why would the hospital be calling him?

"Patch them through."

…

At the end of the call Kaiba slammed the phone down on the receiver and stormed out of his office. He flung open the door to Mokuba's office, where Roland and Mokuba were.

"Roland let's go." He left them with that and took long strides to the elevator. Roland immediately dropped what he was doing and jogged after his employer. Mokuba then darted after them to figure out what was going on. The trio got into the elevator.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir, what's going on?"

"Laken's in the hospital." Mokuba's and Roland's eyes widened "is she okay Seto?" He shook his head.

"She's in critical condition." His normally strong voice wavered a little bit. It was barely noticeable and would normally have been overlooked, but for two of the people who knew him best, and for someone who spoke so strongly, it was all they heard. The two stayed silent as the CEO watched the levels drop. Mokuba looked at the floor and noticed that his brother was tapping his foot furiously on the ground. He then looked up at his face and saw an expression he rarely saw on that face: worry. He ran a hand through his perfect brown hair and took exaggerated long, silent breaths.

…

After a few hours in the ER waiting room, the group learned a few things. What had happened was a terrorist attack on a bus she was on at the time. They were planning on holding the commuters hostage, but a bomb they had went off unexpectedly. The explosion instantly killed everyone in the front of the bus and the remains crashed through some rocks and ended up rolling into a river where the gasoline floated to the top and caught fire. Including the terrorists and bus driver, there had been 48 people on the bus. 9 died in the explosion. 10 died when the bus was rolling. 5 died when the bus hit the water. 10 drowned in the bus. 8 died when the gasoline caught fire 3 died at the scene when paramedics arrived. 1 died in the helicopter on the way to the hospital. And 1 died 5 minutes after arriving at the hospital. That was 47. A nurse periodically came out to give them updates. The first time that there was only a 2% chance she'd make it. Then a 2% she'd make it through the night. Then a 2% chance she'd make it to the end of the hour. Then they were taking her off life support and she'd be gone in 5 minutes. Kaiba quivered.

"Can I see her?"

"We're sorry Mr. Kaiba, we can't have you see her in the state she's in."

"I don't care if she's mutilated or whatever just let me see her." The nurse shook her head and walked back through the doors. Kaiba clenched his fists and shook. He felt dizzy and he grabbed the chair to stable himself. He couldn't and he felt himself growing sick and without saying anything he sped off to the bathroom where he collapsed on the floor in front of the toilet and proceeded to throw up everything he'd eaten in days that was still in his system. He could hardly breath and gasped for air while he wasn't puking and leaned back on the bathroom floor. He turned so that his back was against the wall and leaned back on it with his knees bent up so he'd fit in the stall. His hands were lying on the ground and he felt something strange hit one. He looked down at it and saw a wet splash. His other hand traced up to his face and felt his cheek which he noticed was wet. His jaw hung open and he rose and walked over to the mirror to investigate. He nearly gasped when he saw that he, Seto Kaiba, was in fact crying. He turned his head away from the mirror and closed his eyes tightly, squeezing out more tears which he could now feel on his face and he hadn't recognized before. His eyes hadn't felt tears in over 13 years since before his mother died. He hadn't even cried at his parents' funerals. But now he couldn't stop the tears from flowing furiously down his face and landing on his hands. He returned to his stall and motioned to puke but nothing was left and he gagged into the bowl. He leaned against the wall again with his face in his hands and felt the tears fall silently.

Roland and Mokuba were in the waiting room. Tears were tracing down Mokuba's face silently and he wiped them occasionally when they threatened to fall from his face. Roland cried too but he wiped them away before they passed his sunglasses. When Kaiba hadn't returned, Roland volunteered to go to the bathroom to check on him, but he really wanted to go to compose himself. He walked into the bathroom and at first saw nothing. "Mr. Kaiba?" He took a few steps into the bathroom and saw his employer sitting on the ground against the wall of the nearest stall around the corner. He was staring blankly at his knees, which were curled up and he held in his hands. He slowly looked up at Roland and the guard's jaw dropped. Though water no longer gushed from his eyes, they were read and his cheeks were tear stained and the bathroom smelled like puke. Kaiba looked up at Roland helplessly with large eyes with no emotion but despair. And being curled up only made him look more like a helpless child. The CEO looked away from Roland and back at his knees before his face again transformed into an expression of pain and he again began quietly sobbing as more tears spilled from his tightly shut eyes. He took a deep breath and opened his blue eyes which now looked slightly upward at an angle. Roland felt the tears running down his face and didn't try to stop them this time. He had never seen the CEO cry before. He hadn't ever seen him anywhere close to tears. Even when his boss was upset or distraught, like during Mokuba's kidnappings, he never came close to tears. He just stood there in shock as Kaiba reclosed his eyes with his face against his knees and the tears fell to the floor. Without controlling his body, he found himself walking over to the 18 year old and sitting down beside him against the wall, placing a hand on his shoulder and feeling his shaking breaths and sobs. The trembling slowly subsided and the tears became silent and less violent. He sniffled a few time and his head rose and he wiped some tears out of his face before closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall.

"What am I going to do Roland?" Roland looked over at the young, defeated, tear stained face next to him. "She was my best friend." He continued staring blankly at the slight upward angle.

"Were you in love with her, Mr. Kaiba?" Kaiba opened his mouth like he was about to say no then stopped. He closed his mouth and squinted with his eyebrows down like he was contemplating the question. His head fell forward and he snuggled his chest closer to his knees.

"I don't know." Roland couldn't help but think of how much he looked like a child, helpless and sad. But he still looked contemplative even with his head down. He then lifted his head and leaned it back against the wall to think. "I always just saw her as a friend but…" His head rolled against the wall to face Roland, not all the way over but in his direction. "I think… somewhere in the back of my mind… I always just sort of… assumed that I'd spend my life with her." His head rolled back forward and he seemed to be thinking hard again. He then closed his eyes and a lone tear fell down his face as he whispered. "Yes. I suppose I was in love with her." A few more tears rolled down his cheeks from his tightly closed eyes. Roland squeezed his shoulder and Kaiba let his head bow in front of him with his hair hanging in his face, blocking it from view. Mokuba was shaking as he walked into the bathroom and his eye caught the two sitting in the stall. He saw his brother but couldn't see his face past the hair. Kaiba didn't respond when he entered but Roland looked up at the boy with tears in his eyes. Mokuba switched his attention to his older brother and saw a droplet of light fall from behind the hair. Mokuba's jaw dropped and his hands moved to cover his mouth as more tears came. He had never seen his brother cry before.

One week after the above incident

Kaiba leaned on his knees in the hospital chair looking straight forward smiling. The girl was having most of her machines removed and he could really see her again. The plastic tubes were gone and she was breathing and functioning properly on her own. She would be waking up tomorrow. Normally Kaiba would have been furious at the doctors, who took her off life support and left her for dead. But he was too relieved she was alive. And he couldn't blame them. They didn't know how strong she was. It was truly a miracle. Now Kaiba sat smiling, looking at his best friend. A large portion of her hair had been burned off in the fire but a sweet and humorous nurse had styled it to look somewhat normal; something Kaiba thought the girl would find humorous. She had a sheet going up to her neck; covering most of her casts and gauzing. Her shoulders poked out from the sheet though, and one was in a cast while the other was covered in bandages. Her face had a large bandage stretching across one side of it so one corner was covered. Only her left eye was left uncovered: her left side being the side Kaiba sat on. What was visible of her skin was scratched and bruised, but not broken. He smiled at the girl, despite her condition, he still thought she looked peaceful yet strong sleeping. On the other side of the hospital bed sat Roland who also smiled. "Are you going to tell her?" Kaiba was pulled out of his daze and his eyes looked up to Roland questioningly. It seemed to take a minute for the sound to reach him and for him to process it. Once he did he blushed slightly and turned his face downward and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Eventually." His face was bright red and Roland smiled at how weak this girl made the powerful CEO and billionaire. He stood up.

"I'm going to get some water do you want anything?" Kaiba nodded.

"Water's fine." Roland nodded and left the room. Kaiba watched as the door closed behind his guard and watched it for a moment after closing. He then turned his head back toward the girl. "I'm sorry I cried, you'd probably think I was a wimp." He lightly smiled. He then chuckled slightly. "And I'm sorry it took you nearly dying for me to realize I love you." His gaze softened and he brushed a hair out of her face and back into the style the nurse had put it in. He let his fingers linger on her cheek, but then pulled away feeling strange, like he was violating her while she was unconscious. "Sorry." He looked down than back at her face. "You're going to wake up tomorrow so_" he was cut off when he noticed her eyelid was twitching. He stared at it to see if anything would happen mesmerized. Then suddenly the eyelid opened and beautiful deep green was revealed beneath. He leaned forward as the curious dazed eye traveled around the room then captured his face and held it there. Kaiba noted that she looked absolutely exhausted. A smile formed on his lips and he saw as the corners of her moved upward ever so slightly as she closed her eyes and returned to sleep. He smiled as her remembered a similar incident 2 years earlier, again in the hospital, again with her waking up early and him being there. He smiled at the now closed eye. "Just like last time." He chuckled, remembering the events 2 years earlier, when he first met her.

**Tied to keep the OoCness down but it can be difficult with Kaiba. Hope it wasn't ****_too_**** bad.**


	4. You Know What I Miss?

3 years 6 months ago

"Okay Mokuba, what do you want?" The boy's smile stretched across his entire face and seemed impossibly large and bright. Kaiba had told Mokuba that if he got an A+ on all of his exams that he would spend a day doing whatever he wanted. Mokuba was too thrilled. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

"It's a surprise." He bit his lip while smiling making him look really goofy. He summoned Roland and whispered to him where to drive as Kaiba grumpily got into the car and Mokuba jumped in next to him. They had driven for about a half hour when they reached their destination. Kaiba looked curiously out the window.

"The sports center?" He questioned Mokuba who simply nodded. He did as the boy told him and they got out of the car and walked into the building. Kaiba read on the wall as they entered 'High School Class M State Championship Indoor Track and Field.' He looked back down to Mokuba.

"Why are we at a high school indoor track meet?" Mokuba maintained his smile.

"It's not just any track meet Seto. Bromden's running." Kaiba rolled his eyes at his little brother.

"So I tell you that I'll do whatever you want today and you drag me to a high school track meet to watch some girl I met at the hospital run?" Mokuba nodded but rolled his eyes at the same time like the 11 year old he was.

"She's not just some girl you met at the hospital and we both know it, come on I know you like her." Kaiba blushed slightly at the accusation even though it wasn't true. True, in the hospital they had been friendly with each other, but they were stuck with each other for a long time and that was that. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I do not like her Mokuba." Mokuba just grinned up at him sarcastically.

"Yeah, sure Seto, anything you say." So they sat in the sports center and watched the meet until Mokuba pointed into the crowd excitedly "Look! There she is." Kaiba looked up and followed Mokuba's finger to the girl. She of course looked much different than the last time he had seen her six months ago, when she was in casts in a hospital bed. She was still thin but more powerful and muscular. She smiled as she stood with her relay team in the waiting area to run. Kaiba could see now that she was standing just how short she was. And her hair wasn't in disarray like in the hospital, it was tied back and swung with her every motion. She stood proudly in her dark green track uniform, a sleeveless shirt and running shorts. The green of the uniform was perfect for her and it matched her eyes. And it would be easier to spot her since hers was the only green team there apart from a yellow-ish green team that was much lighter in color. A gun went off and the first heat of 4 began sprinting around the small track. His view always switched between the race and her until the last head when her team went up. He watched the race closely. After the first 3 legs she was the last one left and her team was in fourth place, right behind some girl in a purple and black uniform. The girl in green grabbed the baton and hunted down the girl in purple. Kaiba watched as she gained ground and Mokuba cheered for her as she just barely passed the purple girl at the finish. Mokuba was ecstatic even though they just came in third. The three watched a few more races before Kaiba felt tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to see a familiar smiling face looking down at him.

"Hello Seto Kaiba!"

"Hello Bromden."

"Bromden!" Mokuba yelled excitedly at the girl who now wore a dark blue sweatshirt.

"Hi Mokuba." She waved her fingers at him and continued smiling. "Hi Roland." He simply nodded at the cheerful girl who now had a medal hanging around her neck. "Haven't seen you guys in a while. What brings you here?"

"You." Mokuba pointed at her. "We heard you had a big meet so we wanted to come." Kaiba didn't approve of Mokuba including him in all this 'we' stuff but he didn't complain about it or challenge it either, just sat silently with his arms crossed. "That was an amazing race by the way. It was really incredible."

"Oh, thanks." He head tilted from side to side as she thanked him. "Yeah that was my best split all season.

"Hey what sort of food do they have in this place?"

"Oh they have a lot of stuff, they got nachos, popcorn, soft pretzels, ice cream, pretty much anything. The only thing is you can't eat it in this room, you have to go in the hall."

"Okay because I am starving. I know Seto doesn't like that sort of food but could you come with me Roland?" He looked at Roland who nodded while stifling a small smile. Mokuba leaped up and led Roland away, he glanced back at his older brother and smiled before leaving his view.

"So I'm guessing he dragged you along?" The girl he knew was Laken Bromden leaned her hands on the back of the chair next to Kaiba and looked at his face as he turned towards her. He nodded. "Yeah, all that 'we' stuff sounded made up." She smiled lightly.

"That was a good race though." He looked up at her as he remembered the time they shared 6 months ago. "How on Earth do you go from coma to that in 6 months?" He smiled slightly at the girl he had been friends with, even if he refused to admit he was.

"Well, practice makes perfect... But I was actually really lucky though. Since I was in that coma so long, I may have lost some muscle, but my bones had a lot of good time to completely heal, especially since I was entirely still that whole time.

"You weren't completely still that whole time." She made an inquiring face at him. "Every once in a while your arm would twitch." The corners of her lips twitched upward.

"So what have you been up to the last 6 months?"

"Running the company like normal. I've been working on improving the projection for the duel disks though. And Industrial Illusions is going to change the way they make their cards to make them cheaper, lighter, thinner, and stronger but that means I have to change the duel disks."

"Difficult?"

"It won't be too bad. The pain is just that the new duel disk models need to be able to read both types of cards but take up less space. It hasn't been too bad, I'm almost done with the prototype."

"Change anything other than the card thing?"

"Yeah, just little things though, like the new ones are lighter and take up less space when compacted. And the sound and graphic quality of the holograms is better… What about you?"

"What have I been up too?" He nodded. "Well, my life is pretty boring." Kaiba scoffed. "No seriously though! Apart from trips to the hospital nothing happens!" He rolled his eyes at her. "Okay then, can we agree that when I'm not close to dying my life is boring?" He brought his had up to his chin to sarcastically think and clicked his tongue.

"Hmm… The problem is that I wouldn't know; I only knew you in the hospital."

"Yeah that's probably for the best." She smiled broadly. "Nothing interesting really happens." She held a small sad smile and Kaiba motioned to the medal around her neck.

"What about that?" She looked down and grabbed the medal in her small hands and held it up to inspect it. She looked at it inquiringly like she was examining every part of it, like she was really considering it before shrugging.

"It's okay." Kaiba half smiled.

"You'll never be pleased with yourself." And he shook his head.

"Well why should I be? It's a relay and it's third. And you're one to talk Mr. CEO."

"Hey, come one you should be proud of this… Say what else are you running today?"

"I got 60 and 300. I don't know how I'll do in 60 cause it's so close. If I get a good start I could win but if I don't… Well yeah than I wouldn't. And 300 I should win." Kaiba nodded.

"Will you be proud of yourself then?" She tilted her head.

"Depends on how I do."

"Well if you win."

"If I win and I race well than maybe."

"You're unbelievable."

"I just have high standards for myself."

"Hey, you never told me what you've been up to the last six months." He smiled lightly with a hint of chuckling in his voice. Her eyes brightened a little. "And don't tell me nothing, I want to hear everything." He smiled up at her and she did back.

"Fine, if you insist." She hopped over the chair and sat herself down next to him as she started talking excitedly. "K, so firstly I'll just talk about my therapy and junk. So I was in therapy full time at the hospital for a few weeks after you left. Then I was in part time cause I had to get back to school so it was kind of fun for a little while I still had to use crutches cause my week legs but after like a week I was back to walking normal… Well sort of normal. I was real week at one point so I actually fell in the hallway." She started laughing at herself and shaking her head as she recalled it. "And I felt like the lady in those commercials who falls and can't get up." Kaiba managed a smile. He listened to her stories about the last 6 months for a long while. "Oh, I have to go now start warming up for the 60 okay? Oh can you take this until I'm done running?" She got up and pointed to her medal. He nodded and held his hand out. She took the medal off over her head and handed it to him. "Can you watch this too?" She pulled at her sweatshirt.

"Fine." She smiled.

"Thanks, you're the best." She pulled the sweatshirt off and put it down on the chair next to him that she had been sitting in. "See you after the race. Unless I do bad, in which case I might be sulking somewhere. Okay bye." She jogged off along the side of the track and Kaiba sat there twiddling his thumbs until Mokuba and Roland returned a few minutes later.

"Where'd Bromden go?"

"She went to warm up for her next race." Mokuba nodded and grabbed her sweatshirt and gently placed it on the ground between the two seats. He looked at the thing in his brother's hand.

"Is that her medal?" Kaiba glanced down and opened his hand to see it and nodded. "Cool! Can I see it?" He looked up at his brother with hopeful, bright, excited eyes and Kaiba just reached his hand out to him and Mokuba excitedly took the medal and turned it over in his hands and ran them over it. He angled it in the light to see it glimmer off it. He was entirely mesmerized.

…

A few races and medals later the girl was back and done with her races for the day. By then it was early afternoon. "Okay I'm starving anyone want to get food?"

"Seto hasn't eaten all day!" Mokuba interjected excitedly and looked at his brother expectantly. Kaiba simply sighed and stood up.

"Okay, where's the food?" Mokuba nearly squealed like a girl as Laken led his brother away and Kaiba glanced back, shooting him an annoyed glare. Mokuba watched them leave then turned back around in his seat.

"They're gonna get married, Roland. I can feel it." Roland smiled gently.

"They're only 16 Mokuba." Mokuba shifted in his seat happily.

"Yeah, but still. I've never seen him happier than he is with her."

Laken and Kaiba sat on the ground in the hallway outside because the tables were gone. They sat against a wall. Kaiba just had a bottle of water and a granola bar. Laken had a muffin, a bag of popcorn, and a slushy. He drank some water and watched her as she shoveled down the muffin with slurps of her drink in between. She noticed him partway through and looked up at him, through a stuffed mouth he could tell she said "What?"

"Nah, it's just at the hospital we were always forced to eat their food. And I guess in the back of my head I assumed you were a really healthy eater outside." He took a bite of his granola bar and she swallowed her mouthful.

"You calling me fat?" They both laughed, she clearly was anything but.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." They both ate some more.

"Hey Kaiba?" He looked over. "You know what I miss?... Playing chess with you."

"I thought you didn't like chess."

"Yeah. I didn't use to but playing with you was fun." He nodded. He liked chess but he had trouble finding people he liked playing with. He couldn't fine people that were good but also fun to play with.

"Yeah, I miss that too." He drank some more water than thought. "You know what?" She looked over from her bag of popcorn. "We should do that again."

"Okay."

"Yeah you should come over after the meet." He smiled at his friend who nodded her head.

"Yeah okay, that sounds good." She had a big smile on. "You'll have to pick me up from the school though."

"Not a problem."

…

Kaiba and Bromden walked back to their seated friends slowly as they talked. Mokuba could hear the girl's laughter as they approached and turned around to see the two all smiles. Bromden left the group and Mokuba stared up at Kaiba. "Sooo… How'd it go?" He was all smiles too and Kaiba's slowly shrunk a little, but his lips were still turned up. He ruffled Mokuba's hair.

"I keep telling you, we're just friends."

"And I keep telling you I don't believe you."

"Whatever, Mokuba." He crossed his arms and nodded his head upward. "Come on, she's done so let's get going." Mokuba hopped up from the seat and the group returned to the mansion.

…

It was late in the afternoon and the Kaiba brothers were spending the elder's day off watching a movie on the couch, just relaxing, when his personal phone, set on a side table began buzzing. Mokuba reached it first and looked at the screen and gaped. "You have Bromden's number and she's calling you?!" He nearly squealed again and Kaiba snatched the phone away from him and answered.

"Hi."

"Hey, I'm almost back at the school if you want to come get me."

"Okay, I'll be right over. Bye." He hung up the phone and sat up with his brother on his heels.

"You'll be right over! Right over where!?"

"Don't jump to any conclusions Mokuba. I'm just picking her up and bringing her over to play chess." He opened a drawer in a table and grabbed the keys to one of their many cars they had. But he reconsidered and decided to take the blue car instead of the black. Mokuba crossed his arms and looked at his brother.

"Yeah, sure that's all. So that why you have her number?" Mokuba smirked and his brother didn't respond and instead just started walking to the car. "Okay Seto, I promise I won't bother you guys." He smiled and laughed and Kaiba just shook his head at his younger brother as he got into the car and drove away.

* * *

**I'm not very good at writing conversations -_-**


	5. Back at the Hospital

**Really long chapter ahead!**

* * *

4 years ago

Kaiba again found himself unable to sleep and woke up from a light rest at 10:30pm. He turned his light on and read his book, but it felt unnatural. He didn't like how empty the room felt and how isolated he seemed. So he got into his wheelchair and placed the book in his lap. He turned his light off and wheeled himself across the room with ease where he parked himself next to Bromden so that the wheels of his chair were parallel with the bed and turned her light on. He took a moment to look at her face, still so still. "You'll be waking up tomorrow." He stopped talking as though waiting for a response then when he didn't receive one he smiled a little. "I sure hope I don't hate you." He puck up his book and began reading as was usual.

But then around midnight the door opened slowly and he looked up to see who it was. No one ever came in during the night hours. As the light from the hall crept into the room he saw that it was just Roland. "Forget something Roland?" Roland surveyed the scene and looked at his boss puzzled.

"Wasn't your lamp fixed?" Kaiba nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. He then shrugged.

"It's tradition Roland." He smirked to his comrade at the door "and she's waking up tomorrow, so it's my last night to be a creep." Roland himself couldn't help but smile. Did he really just make a joke? He turned on the light in the room and Kaiba squinted his eyes as the adjusted to the light. Roland walked over to a seat on Kaiba's side.

"Yes I did forget something." He puck up a folder and walked back to the door where he turned off the light. "Goodnight Mr. Kaiba." Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement as Roland closed the door behind him. He redirected his attention back to Bromden.

"I get to meet you tomorrow. Hopefully you wake up early before the geeks get here. One of the doctors said they were coming here to be with you when you wake up since you don't have a family and all." He saw a strand of hair slowly slip down her face and he gently reached over and pushed it back out of her face. "Don't worry, I won't let them bother you too much." He smiled to himself and continued reading his book, not growing very tired.

…

Around 1 in the morning he decided to get some sleep. He wouldn't want to be unconscious when she woke up the next day. He didn't want to come off as weak after all, not that he really cared what this random person thought of him. He decided to finish the page he was on and call it a night. Before he continued reading onto the next paragraph, he took a look at the sleeping figure. He narrowed his eyes, something was off. He couldn't figure it out at first but then he realized that her breathing didn't have the same rhythm that it had earlier. He set his book down in his lap and sat up straight and looked her over. "You okay?" He didn't expect an answer, but in a way he received one. Her head turned to the side toward him and her cheek fell into the pillow. He reached over to brush the hair out of her face and felt that her face felt clammy and cold. An eyebrow on his face rose. He kept looking at her and he saw that her eyelids started twitching, fluttering. His eyes widened a little. Is she waking up? No she's not supposed to until around 2 tomorrow. But at the end of his thought he saw her eyes slowly open, revealing dark green irises I slightly blood-shot eyes. Why didn't he know the color of her eyes? His eyes met hers but he could tell she wasn't processing his. Her eyes were far off and then from what seemed like nowhere she shot up to sit straight up. Her face scrunched up and Kaiba could tell she was in pain but he was too engrossed to do anything. Then her head slowly turned to look back at him and she seemed to be staring right through him. She then collapsed forward and proceeded to puke on his lap. Kaiba's hands shot up and he stared in surprise and disgust at the mushy substance now covering his book and dripping down his pants. His jaw dropped and he swore at a normal speaking voice. The girl finally seemed to be aware of everything around her and cupped her face in her hands. She went to speak but found her voice didn't work. Kaiba carted himself away to go change clothes and wash off. She followed him with her eyes as he moved to his side of the room to get some clean clothes and then left the room to clean off and change.

…

Kaiba was in the handicapped stall of the bathroom changing his clothes and swearing underneath his breath. Stupid girl, had to puke all over him. He then thought about it a little more and started laughing. Yeah, not off to a good start. He didn't think he was going to like her very much. He continued smiling to himself as he left the stall with his ruined pants and book in a plastic bag which he was deliberating whether to throw away or not. In the end he decided not to and instead to just leave the bag outside his room to be washed so he wouldn't smell it. On his way back he continued laughing about the incident. At first he was annoyed at the girl, but then realized she was probably extremely embarrassed over the incident and he decided to get her a glass of water on his return. He got to their room and entered with the water. He saw Bromden still sitting up leaning back on her straight arms and palms of her hands. She looked at him as he entered. He wheeled his way over and held the water out to her. He noticed a sort of skeptical look on her face as she took the water and drank it slowly. She placed it back down and she tried to speak, but after not talking for so many weeks, she still found she couldn't.

"You shouldn't try to strain your voice. You've been in a medically induced coma for a while so your voice will be weak." His voice was sterner than he meant and he hadn't intended it to sound so harsh. The girl looked at him sideways and looked around the room. Her face still held a small… not exactly anger, more just a little peeved. Kaiba realized that she was looking for pen and paper and wheeled himself over to his side of the room to grab a notebook and pencil. He brought it back over to her and she took it in her hands and focused on it. The movements of her hand were smooth yet sharp and defined. It was as though she was imprinting her soul into the paper. She then turned it around for Kaiba to read:

_*What were you doing?*_

Her handwriting was precise and the lines were distinct, it wasn't big and bubbly like a normal girl's. But it wasn't sloppy either. It looked like the writing you'd see on an old document (like the declaration of independence). Kaiba looked at the writing confused. "I don't understand." He looked at her and she turned the notebook back around and began writing again. She then turned it back:

_*When I woke up you were just sitting there. It's the middle of the night. What were you doing?*_

Kaiba read the script and looked at her face. It was slightly accusatory but more curious than anything. "I couldn't sleep so I was reading my book."

_*Why not on your side. You have a light.*_

He felt himself blush slightly and was glad the lighting was dim so she couldn't see. But he recomposed himself back to his normal self "That light makes noises and it bothers me." She seemed to accept his lie and continued writing.

_*How long have I been out?*_

"A few weeks now. I don't know exactly how many though." She nodded in understanding.

_*The other driver?*_

"He was drunk and he got off without much injury but he's in jail." She wrote more angrily in the notepad.

_*Good.*_

She turned the notebook back and continued writing.

_*Why are you here?*_

"Similar to you, my car was hit by a drunk driver. But I wasn't too bad. I was only out for 2 days and my injuries weren't as bad."

_*How bad were mine?*_

He smirked. "Pretty bad to be in a coma for a few weeks."

_*Can you get me a bag or something? I'm still nauceous.*_

He nodded and moved to his side to grab the small trash can next to his bed and brought it over. He handed it to the girl who held it in front of her and leaned over it. She stayed there for a few minutes then puked into it. Afterwards she continued hacking, gagging and coughing like her body wanted to throw up but there was nothing left in her stomach to. Which Kaiba didn't doubt, just look how thin she was. She finished and set the garbage down on the other side of the bed and grabbed the glass of water to rinse away the taste. She then took the notepad back up.

_*Thanks*_

Kaiba kept the same stern look on his face as he read her note. "Well I couldn't just have you puke on me again." She smiled lightly and took wrote more, this time not as violently as she had before.

_*Yeah, sorry about that.*_

Kaiba waved it away. He then looked back at her face, now extremely pale but still full of life.

_*Why did they wake me up from the coma in the middle of the night?*_

"You weren't actually supposed to wake up until tomorrow."

_*I wasn't supposed to survive either though so they should have seen this coming.*_

She gave a small smile as she appreciated her life. "Why are you so happy?" Bromden gave him a questioning look and he threw courtesy out the window. "You have not family and no one's visiting you and you've been in a coma for weeks and your legs are broken and all of your muscle in gone." He made his eyes sharp and ruthless. "Why are you so happy?" The girl simply rolled her eyes at him and wrote.

_*Because I'm alive and I've been through worse.*_

She tilted her head slightly as Kaiba's eyes narrowed at the words.

_*What's your name anyway?*_

"I'm Kaiba. And I already know that you're Bromden." She nodded proudly and took another sip of water before coughing and attempting to speak again.

"Kaiba." It came out raspy but strangely powerful, like the voice of someone who had been to the ends of the Earth and back and survived to tell the tale. She smiled that she was able to speak, even if it was only a name. She was running out of water though and she frowned at the glass, which Kaiba noticed and promptly fetched her more. She drank in little sips and continued speaking, her voice getting gradually stronger and less raspy, "How long have you been here for?"

"Almost 2 weeks now."

"Was I annoying at all while I was out?"

"Nah, you were a really good roommate. I was just happy not to be stuck with some screaming freak."

"How much longer will you be here for?"

"Doctors say about a week or so."

"Do you know how long I'll be here for?"

"Sorry, I have no idea. But they said that even once you're out of this ward you'll be moved to a different one so you can recover your strength." Bromden looked down at herself and saw how thin she was and how much of her muscle had deteriorated. She frowned but accepted the challenge. She reminded herself that she had been through worse. She held up her hands and looked at her palms. She didn't know why she did this but she did. And she just looked at them. "I should also warn you that there are some people who visit me that will be flocking around you when they see you awake… I think they've become pretty attached to you." Bromden smiled lightly at the thought.

"Why? I've just been in a coma the whole time. I can't be that interesting or lively."

"Yeah, they're weird." He didn't want to admit that he himself had become attached to her as well, much more than the others in fact. And he was actually extremely pleased that so far she wasn't bothering him at all; well excluding the part where the first interaction they had was her puking all over him. But he didn't find himself unhappy with her company, which was rare for the CEO. "A lot of the doctors too talk to you when they think I'm asleep. I think everyone's made up their own mind on what type of person you really are."

"What type of person did you think I'd be?"

"Honestly, I thought you'd be frail, whiny, and annoying. But I'm happy you're not." He still glared at her with his intimidating blue eyes, but something was strange about this girl. While Kaiba's eyes were so intimidating that no one would dare look at them, this girl's eyes were different. It wasn't scary to look at them, they were actually friendly. But if you tried to really look into them, it was as though there was a wall just behind her pupils. Kaiba couldn't read her by her eyes at all and it made him uncomfortable. But he tried to ignore it and judge her from her words and tones and movements instead. The girl scoffed at his earlier comment.

"Anything but, Kaiba. I know I look like a weakling, but before the accident I was actually pretty strong." She diverted her eyes towards the ground and seemed to sigh silently. She then looked back up and smirked. "Don't judge a book by its cover." Kaiba still just glared at her. "So what type of a person are you? What's your story?" Kaiba blinked twice then ran his hand through his hair.

"My story? Like the story of my life?" His eyebrow was raised and Bromden simply nodded: no expression on her face aside from genuine interest. "Well, most of that's personal Ms. Bromden, but if you must know something I'm 16 and I'm the president and CEO of Kaiba Corporation." His tone was even and he said it without pride as though it weren't a big deal. She nodded.

"That's impressive." Kaiba didn't acknowledge her compliment.

"How about you?" He acted as though he was asking out of courtesy and didn't actually care, but he was secretly curious about her. Whether she saw through him or not she seemed eager to answer. She took a deep breath and smiled. She then spoke in a deeper voice, that was apparently supposed to mock his "Well, most of that's personal Mr. Kaiba, but if you must know something" her voice switched back to her own higher pitched one "I'm also 16, but I'm just a student still."

"What about your family? Whatever happened to them? The nurse told me all your family was either dead or dead to you…" Kaiba didn't care if he was rude. He never spared manners, even for a thin girl who just woke up from a coma.

"Yeah my immediate family died 2 years ago and the rest of them can go die for all I care." She said it as though it was nothing, without a trace of emotion as she started playing with her hands in front of her. At first Kaiba couldn't figure out what in the world she was doing, but then he realized she was making shadow puppets that appeared on the wall on the far side of the door to the room. He looked at the fuzzy shadow. Even though it wasn't very well defined, she was clearly making some sort of flying thing. It wasn't just the usual bird though, it was different.

"What is it?" Bromden looked over to Kaiba and followed his line of vision to the shadows she was making. She smiled.

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to tell with it being so fuzzy cause the walls so far away, but it's supposed to be a dragon." Kaiba couldn't help but smirk a little bit. When he looked at the fuzzy image on the wall, he could see the resemblance and it reminded him of his blue eyes white dragons. He then watched her thin hands move around each other and he looked back at the wall to see the dragon flying and breathing fire. "Do you like shadow puppets?" The girl still had her vision on the wall and Kaiba stared at the fuzzy dragon as well.

"I suppose so, I used to do them a lot for my little brother."

"Do you still do them at all?" She looked over at Kaiba and saw his hands fitted together strangely. She looked over at the wall on the opposite side of the door and saw a faint outline of a spider crawling up the side of the door. She laughed a little bit and the sound made the corners of Kaiba's mouth rise ever so slightly.

* * *

**This chapter is actually from another thing I've been working on, which is a longer story about Kaiba and Laken meeting, so tell me what you think about this chapter so I can improve it for the other story.**


	6. Traditions

1 day later

"_A boating accident has left 3 people dead last night_." Kaiba never really pays attention to the news. He doesn't pay any attention to it playing in the background as he works on his laptop. Mokuba isn't paying much attention to it either; he's just watching it blankly for something to get his mind off things. It doesn't help much though when the pictures of the victims comes up. One of the victims doesn't have an available picture, which Kaiba doesn't notice because he's not watching. But when they start reading off the names of the accident victims one catches his ear. He looks up at the screen and sees that there's no photo available. But he knows what she looks like. Mokuba doesn't take notice to the name but does take notice to his brother's sudden vigilance.

"What is it Seto?" Kaiba just sits there and smiles to himself as he listens to the news.

"_According to reports, none of the victims could swim and their safety devices malfunctioned_."

"Seto, why are you smiling?" Kaiba is taken out of his trance and looks at his brother.

"Remember how I told you she was going to fake her own death?" Mokuba nods. "I know she can swim, and that middle name there without a picture is one of her fake identities." Mokuba looks at the screen and back to his brother and understands that this is her faking her death. But he's still confused as to why this makes his brother happy. Kaiba sees the confusion in the younger's face and half-smiles. "It's because it means she's quitting." He returns to his work on his computer screen.

3 years 3 months ago

"Hey Kaiba?" Something didn't feel right. But he mentally waved it off and turned his head to the girl sitting next to him on the bench. "Do you really think I'm getting good?" He smiled and turned back toward the piano they sat at. The room was extremely open and bright. There was a huge window occupying the entirety of one wall and outside of it was a blue sky and trees. Light came in bright through the window. Most of the objects in the room were white: the wall, the marble floor, the chairs, and even the piano. There were few objects in the room and the ceiling was extremely high and carried sound well.

"You're amazing." He scooted over on the bench. "Play this." He turned a few pages in a book and placed it open on the piano. She looked it over a few times then began playing. Kaiba leaned forward onto his knees and clasped his hands together and cupped them in front of his mouth. He closed his eyes and listened to the rich notes of the piano being struck and carried around the spacious room. He listened to the girl play and could imagine her sitting there looking at the music but feeling it flow off her fingertips. It really was a shame that she had only started learning piano in the last 3 months. She had a real natural talent for it. She was a quick learner and the music flowed from her long, skinny fingers gracefully on the keys. He opened his eyes and watched her hands glide across the piano with the music. Her hands were graceful, yet powerful too. He had her playing a smooth windy song now, so her movements were graceful and gentle. But when she played something with more passion, it showed in her hands, they became powerful and expressive, like her handwriting, which only later did he find out was a forge. Her hands played the tone of the music almost more than the instrument and he reclosed his eyes to listen, only every so often imagining her hands on the keys. The music came gracefully and smoothly until a rather sour note was hit and the hall was left silent.

"Oops." She rubbed the back of her neck and Kaiba opened his eyes and sat back up straight.

"That was really good." He could tell she didn't think so. "Relax it was fine. It's the first time you're seeing this music and you made one mistake at the very end. That's good."

"Thanks, Kaiba." He frowned and he felt uneasy as his face squinted. "What's wrong?" He turned his head toward her only slightly concerned face and figured it out. He looked her in her green eyes and could see deep into them her soul.

"I want you to call me Seto." He sounded incredibly serious, and it wasn't so much of a request as a demand. One corner of her mouth rose.

"Okay Seto, then you call me Laken." He mimicked her facial expression.

"Okay… Laken."

2 years 6 months ago

Kaiba wiped the sleep from his eyes as he worked in his home office. He had just been spending some time with Laken when some emergency came up at Kaiba Corporation's branch in England. He gave himself a second to yawn, stretch his arms and legs and rub his eyes before returning to work. Why couldn't people just be competent and do their jobs correctly? He focused on his work for he didn't know how long but enough to jump when he heard a noise to his left. He looked over and realized it was the sound of a glass being placed on his desk. He looked at the girl who had just placed it there.

"Ugh. You startled me."

"Sorry. Just thought you might want some juice." He looked at the tall glass with an orangey gold substance inside, apple juice, and little bits of foam around the ice cubes at the top with a straight, unbent green straw coming out.

"Thanks, but you know I don't like sugar."

"Don't worry, I watered it down for you." He hmphed. He refused to smile and set in his mind not to drink the juice. He was an important business man and inventor; he didn't want to drink apple juice like a little kid. He refocused on his work and began typing again. He went to turn back to her to say something but she was already gone. She was so quiet walking. He hadn't noticed her enter or leave. In fact, he realized, he hadn't even heard the door open and close. He glanced over his shoulder to confirm that the door was closed and it was, and the girl wasn't in the room. He turned back and returned to his work. She really was quiet and sneaky. It must have been one of the qualities that made her such a good assassin. He smirked. At first it had been a little bit odd to think she was a mass murderer, but when he thought about it, it was almost too perfect. As time passed, the roll of assassin really came to suit her well, a perfect match. And it was then clear to Kaiba. Just little things would remind him and make everything make sense. She'd enter and leave rooms without a soul noticing, the way she'd think through a game of chess and you could see her mind working, the confident look, like she wasn't afraid of anything, her agility, flexibility, speed, and strength, the way she could read people's next moves, even the passion she showed in the piano. More grimly there were the times that he wouldn't hear from her for days, or that she had 2 phones, one personal and one that, Kaiba noticed, would switch out among cheap ones every few weeks. Then there was the time she was searching through her wallet for a missing scrap of paper (apparently it was important, he never knew what was on it though) and she emptied a variety of fake I.D's from different states and all different names. Just scattered amongst them was 'Laken Bromden.' That's when it really hit him that the name he'd been calling her by wasn't her real name at all. Most of the other things just became part of who she was but he had trouble looking that over. It hurt him to call her and know it wasn't who she really was. Then there was the incident a month earlier, which he didn't even want to think about. Then there was the guilt and brutality deep in her eyes that he'd see if he really looked into her eyes, but he didn't want to think of that either. With the other things, he only noticed these things about her once he knew though. She did a good job of cleaning up. His guards, even trusty Roland, never knew a thing. And Kaiba was set to keep it like that. They didn't have to know.

He again yawned and felt his throat grow thirsty. He couldn't leave the room, he was far too busy. His eyes made their way over to the glass of juice, sitting happily on the counter collecting dew on the outside. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure he was alone in the room and reached out to grab the juice. He held the glass in one hand and the straw in the other. And twiddled with the straw in his fingers, making it hit the ice into the sides of the glass causing the high pitched notes. He took a few sips of the apple juice, which he found to be watered down perfectly and smiled. He put the glass down where it had been and let his gaze rest on it. He chuckled when he thought of how many people she had probably poisoned in her lifetime and kept the smile on his face as he returned to working.

…

He put his computer into sleep mode and stood up slowly. He yawned and left the room, taking the empty glass with him. He walked to the kitchen and placed it on the counter before returning to a living room. He turned on the light and saw Laken curled up under a blanket on the couch, fast asleep. He stood in the doorway and leaned on the side of the frame and looked at her. Her face was thin, pale, and taught, like she was really stressed. Her dark brown hair was tucked behind her, tied back, but was loose from her sleeping on it. Stray pieces came out, but stayed back. Her mouth was completely closed and slightly frowning. A small, spidery pale hand came out from behind the blankets and rested beneath her cheek. She looked stressed and worried. Kaiba frowned as he walked over to the girl's side and knelt on the ground so his face was even with hers. He took her hand in his and used the back of his other hand to gently brush her cheek. "I know you feel guilty about your job." He looked down at the ground as he whispered it. But he turned his face back up to hers. "But I'm still here for you." He smiled faintly and put an arm under her knees and the other at the top of her back and puck her up, being careful not the disturb her. Her head fell into his shoulder and her loose hair swung a little bit behind her. He gently walked to the door and turned off the light with his elbow. He carried her gently up the steps and managed to carefully open up the door to a guest room with his foot. He walked into the dark room and gently set her down on the bed. He sat on the edge of it and looked into the darkness. A strip of light still came through onto them, but the area of the room he faced was still pitch-black. He gripped the quilts with his hands and sighed before looking back at the girl. In this light, she looked sweeter. Her face looked more full and healthy and her sleep looked peaceful, rather than stressed. He kept his hands where they were and whispered, "How can someone who looks so innocent do such things?" He turned back toward the darkness and stared into it for he didn't know how long, but it was long enough for Roland to go searching for him. He found him sitting on the edge of the bed staring into the darkness extremely groggy with sleep deprived eyes. Roland walked into the room and set a small shadow on Kaiba who turned towards him. Even in the strange lighting Kaiba could tell he had a puzzled expression on his face. He turned back to the girl and then returned his gaze to the guard. "She fell asleep so I brought her here." He spoke tiredly without any emotion. The guard retained his puzzled expression and looked back and forth between the two teens.

"You should go sleep, Mr. Kaiba." Kaiba smiled.

"But's it's tradition, Roland." Roland returned the smile as the very sleepy Kaiba rose to his feet and walked towards the door slumped over, barely able to keep his eyes open.


	7. On Guilt and Blood

2 years 7 months ago

Kaiba hadn't heard from Laken in a few days, and he had a hunch why, but he didn't really like to think about it. So he was in his office fiddling with some new device when he noticed the blue rectangle shining at him from the corner of a desk. He put down his work and walked over to the object: Laken's personal phone. He chuckled in his mind. That could also explain why he hadn't heard from her much. He wanted to run it over to her apartment right away, but he was making really good progress and knew if he left now, he would come back and be lost on what he was doing with it. He shrugged it off and put the object back down. She didn't use her personal phone much anyway, she'd be fine without it until the end of the work day.

…

Kaiba's work day ran a little over: until about 4 am. Kaiba grabbed the phone and dropped it in his shirt pocket. He thought he'd just go home and return it tomorrow, but it was a Friday and he knew that Laken stayed up late. Even on school nights she would take a nap as soon as she got home and barely sleep during the night. Probably had to do with her work. So he decided to stop by her apartment, it couldn't hurt.

…

He stood outside the door and knocked at it a few times. He of course didn't hear her walk up behind the door and look through the peephole, he never could, though he hadn't yet made any mental notes of it. "What is it Kaiba?" She didn't call him 'Seto.' The voice wasn't the usual chipper nature of hers. It wasn't the sleepy voice of hers either that it usually was whenever it wasn't chipper. And the only other voice he had ever heard was the dead seriousness that she had spoken with when she told him about her employment. But this voice was entirely new and different. It was… threatening and harsh. He had never heard it like that before and it surprised him. He just stood there for a moment. "Sorry, that came out really angry sounding." This time wasn't happy, but it wasn't angry either. It was a normal speaking voice. "So what are you here for?" That time she sounded happier, but Kaiba was still worried. He swallowed as he looked at the door and she could see even through the peephole that he was concerned.

"Laken… are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay… So what's up?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the blue rectangle.

"You left your phone at my office." He could hear her laugh through the door.

"That's what you came here for at… 4:30am? You're unbelievable."

"So… Will you open the door?" There was silence on the other side.

"Sorry, no can do, just… I'll get the phone tomorrow, I'll go over to your house and pick it up."

"Come on, I came all the way over here at 4:30am and you're just gonna pick it up tomorrow?"

"Okay, just give me a second." He didn't hear any movement inside beside a little water running. He heard it turn on and off a few minutes later as he stood awkwardly outside the door. A few moments after it turned off the door opened if only a crack and Laken's head poked through. She smiled sadly at her friend, "Thanks for bringing it over." Kaiba held onto the phone with a frown and an accusatory raised eyebrow.

"What's going on in there?"

"Nothing's going on it's just…"

"Just what?"

"Well, I just got back from a job…" Kaiba continued staring at her. "It's not pretty." She looked down at the ground with sad eyes and Kaiba studied her. She looked back up at him after a long, silent while and started feeling uncomfortable under his stare. "What?"

"I just realized what you mean when you say you're an awful person…" She looked at him inquizically, waiting for him to continue speaking. He spoke as though he had no soul, like he wasn't really there. "… You don't feel guilt do you?" Her face stayed frozen for a moment, like she was trying to decide whether to deny or confirm the claim.

"I feel guilt just... I just ignore it... I'm used to pushing back emotions."

"May I come in?" She turned around and inspected the room he couldn't see and opened the door wide for him and motioned him in. He took two long steps inside and she shut and locked the door behind him. The two of them stood quietly as he surveyed the room: nothing popped out right away, no smoking guns or bloody knives laying around, but his eye was drawn to the sink. He took a few steps closer to see a black lump of fabric inside. A river of dark blood came away from one of the sides and squirreled with the current down the drain. He then looked to the side where there was a cardboard box, which had blood coming out of the bottom, like grease in a fast-food container, it stained through. Below it was a folded up towel with layers of paper towels on top of it. The box was open and upon inspection there was more bloody cloth. From one of the corners he also saw what looked like a book and some broken pieces of wood and the bottom of a mop, and a soap sprayer. He looked at the rest of the counter and didn't find much interesting: a few pieces of meat were flung on the counter top, which he noted as odd. He turned around and looked at the rest of the room before turning to the girl. "Torture or murder?"

"Murder."

"Those the victim's?" he nodded his head back toward the sink. She shook her head. "Well whose are they?"

"They're mine, I got hurt on the job."

"You okay?" She looked at him incredulously, like she couldn't believe he had just asked her that. She had just gone on a job to murder, and he was asking if she was okay after seeing a little blood of hers. To Kaiba, it just felt natural. She nodded.

"So where's all your stuff?" she knew he was referring to the weapons and the like.

"Secret."

"Is that what you were doing at the door?" She shook her head.

"I was cleaning myself up. I needed to get the blood off my face." He stood silently with his hands in his pockets as she looked at the ground.

"How'd you get hurt?"

"Some thug got me in the side with a knife." He looked up at her. "I'm fine, I already patched myself up." He stood in silence with his hands in his pockets looking at his shoes. His head then shot up at her.

"I don't get you… you're, you're… you're so nice all the time. But at the same time you, you do... this for a living. You're my best friend… but at the same time I hate you because I don't understand you, and you intrigue me because I want to understand you but can't." He bit his lip gently. "And I… I'm confused because I like both sides of you even though they're opposite. But who are you?" He looked at her with determined eyes despite his stuttering. His icy gaze was met by the same apathetic wall of green that greeted so many others.

"I don't know." She held his stare and spoke as fact. She just didn't seem to care that she didn't know who she was.

"I don't even know your real name, but I need you to call me 'Seto.' And that name is reserved. I don't even let Roland call me that. But I need you to. It feels wrong when you don't." He looked for any change in her still walled eyes but saw none. "Who was the target?"

"Some underground drug dealer."

"Do you hurt innocent people ever?" Kaiba wasn't sure if he had ever heard greater silence before she answered.

"Not often. I mostly work the big cases, where evil rich people target other evil rich people."

"But… you sometimes kill innocent people…" She sighed.

"It's just a job, none of us are innocent and we all die at some point anyway."

"That's... that's sick!" She held his gaze in hers.

"Look! I do my job to survive. And I try to kill the people with the least pain possible! There are lots of other assassins who would be assigned to the jobs I have. If I didn't, someone else would, but some of the others... I try to make it painless and quick. There are some others who don't," She stood quietly and rubbed her crossed arms, like she was cold. "And don't act so high and mighty Kaiba. Your past isn't exactly clean."

"I never said it was. And I'm not saying anything bad about you." He couldn't find it in himself to hate her, and he hated it. No matter what he couldn't hate her. He stood with his hands in his pockets for a few minutes in silence, barely breathing, than ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

"I told you to call me Seto." He looked up at her now surprised green eyes. She watched him. He walked over to her and stood directly in front of her. "You may be sick, but I'm just as bad, because no matter how hard I try I can't hate you." The two locked eyes. "I mean, I asked you if you were okay…"

"I'll find a way out of it, Kaiba_"

"Seto."

"No. I won't call you that until I pay up for my crimes."

"No. I need you to call me Seto."

"Fine. Goodbye, Seto." She pushed him out the door and immediately locked it behind him. He stood in the hallway and wondered how he got in front of the door, when she opened it, and when she took her phone back. He sighed. She sure was good at what she did.

Almost 4 years ago

"Kaiba?" He looked at her from the chess board now splayed across her hospital bed. "What happened to your family?" He sighed and made his next move. "They died."

"Well that wasn't vague at all."

"Sorry, it's just personal is all."

"Well you found out a lot of stuff about me from the nurses and doctors without my consent. I'd say being gang raped and mother massacring your entire family is pretty personal." She moved a black pawn forward.

"Look, I'm sorry about being nosy. If you really want to know my mother died giving birth to my brother and my father died 3 years later in a car accident. After my family died our extended family took our money and left us at the orphanage. I played a man named Gozaburo Kaiba in chess. The deal was if I won he'd adopt my brother and me. I won. I knew living with Gozaburo would be tough, but if I took the brunt of it Mokuba would have a good home. So I was abused and then took over the company a few years ago. He killed himself and now I run the company." She nodded.

"Gozaburo have any family?"

"He had a son who died around the time he adopted my brother and me and an ex-wife, but that was it really."

"He kill himself because of you?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"At least he was a bad guy." He looked at her sad face leaning lazily on a hand as she made her next move.

"Hey, none of that was your fault."

"Doesn't bring them back to life."


	8. Truth and Graves: Final Chapter

**Is it really the last chapter already?! Yes it is, thank you all for reading! When you finish this last chapter, I hope you'll have like the story. Thanks again. And now, the final chapter.**

* * *

1 week ago

"Laken?" Kaiba's fingers had come off the piano keys and she took her eyes off of them and looked at his face, now next to hers. "What's your real name?" She sighed heavily and diverted her eyes.

"It doesn't matter anymore." She looked back to him. "Look, that old name died with the old me. It's not part of who I am anymore."

"Than why can't you tell me? If it's just a name it shouldn't be a problem."

"Because, that name is the old me. That name is weak and stupid and naïve. I don't want that disgrace of a name on my tongue." She crossed her arms and looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

"You don't have a problem saying the fake names you used as an assassin. And that's an old you too." She hadn't told him that she hadn't stopped that. She had told him that she escaped the game, but one does not simply quit being an assassin. So she attempted to lie.

"Yeah, but those were fake names all along. They didn't mean anything." He gently laid his fingers on the bottom of her chin and gently nudged her face towards his to face him so she had to look him right in the eyes.

"Please, I just really want to speak your real name. If only once."

"That's not my real name anymore though. That person was someone else. It's their name, not mine." He looked at her with open eyes, and she could tell he was thinking something.

"You just don't like that name because your mother gave it to you." She blushed slightly and then scowled.

"That woman took everything from my entire family. I will not speak the name that, that monster, gave me. Everything that happened was her fault." She gripped the piano bench with white knuckles. Kaiba knew that she hated the woman more than anything. But not even he knew the full story. He knew that her mother had killed some members of her family before offing herself, but he didn't know any more. While that's enough to make anyone hate a person, it always seemed like a part of the story was missing.

"What… Exactly happened?" the girl looked surprised.

"Oh Seto… I never have told you why I visit those graves, have I?" He shook his head and she looked off into the distance. "It's a long story, so I'll try to make it brief… When I was 14 I caught my mother in an affair with the vice principal at my high school. I told my father who told the other man's wife, who left him. The vice principal got fired and my mother left him because he had no money. He was angry at me, so he actually hired a gang to have me killed… But they didn't do their job very well. I got raped and thrown in a river. I managed to survive though…" Kaiba felt the anger in him rising. He had known she had been raped, but hearing it like this from her and being thrown into a river like a piece of trash! He couldn't stand to think about it. He clenched his fists and he felt his jaw tighten and looked away. "I suppose I'm really lucky I'm clean though… But anyway, so I ended up in the hospital and the vice principal got arrested…" She stopped talking for a while but Kaiba knew it wasn't the end, and he sat patiently waiting. "But turned out I was pregnant." Kaiba's felt his face turn red and even though Laken was looking off into the distance, he was pretty sure she could see him. He was upset and… angry. How dare someone do that to her! He sat there red and shocked. "So meanwhile my mother was going crazy to my relatives, and most of them blamed me for it. The ones who cared were the ones who were there for me and visited me in the hospital… Then that day in the hospital_" She swallowed and stood up and walked to the big window in the room and crossed one arm with the other up to her mouth where she held the end of the sweatshirt gently in her teeth and just stood there silently looking out at the trees. Kaiba sat at the piano and stared at her. After what seemed like an eternity, but at the same time only seconds she turned around with her arms fully crossed and looked right at him. "My mother came in in a rampage and shot everyone down… except for me. She held me at gunpoint and took me to a car outside. I don't know where she was driving me but she crashed along the way and I made it out with barely a scratch, the baby was dead though." She turned back to the window keeping her arms crossed. "So that's why all my family was dead or dead to me. The ones that cared about me at all were there that day and died… After that they took the will money and left me. After that is when I realized my apathy, and my potential as a criminal. To support myself, I survived for a long while off of stealing and little jobs here and there. But I was barely getting by and I had to pay for college. So a few months after the incident is when I got involved with assassination. And about a year of that and on the way back from a job I got hit by a drunk driver and you know the rest." Kaiba stood up slowly and walked to her side. She glanced up at him and he stared out the window with her.

"She doesn't sound weak to me."

"Hmph… She was weak."

"She got through a lot of tough stuff."

"That whiny girl cried." Kaiba stood silent and looked down at her and as much as he tried, he could never imagine her crying.

"Do you think I'm whiny?" The girl immediately answered his question absolutely.

"No of course not." Kaiba walked across the room and sat back at the piano bench and hit a few light notes. Laken slowly walked back over with her arms still crossed and sat next to him, facing away from the piano so they were facing opposite directions. He stopped playing and talked without looking at her. Their positions on the bench made it so they couldn't see each other.

"When was the last time you cried?"

"When I was 14. I cried when I was raped. I haven't cried since." He hit another few notes and stopped again.

"That's 6 years. That's a while." He continued playing a few random whole notes with little trills on his other hand and then stopped.

"You're talking… You've gone since you were 5… 15 years." He leaned back on the piano bench so he could see her face.

"There's something I've never told you." She turned her head so that they could see each other just by turning their faces instead of him leaning like that. She had a raised eyebrow, much like his classic. "What? Think you're the only one who has secrets?" He put his hands on the bench and sat up instead of leaning.

"Okay, what's your secret?"

"I only went 13 years without crying." She stared him down with curiosity and speculation. "Yeah, shocking. You broke my streak two years ago. So I'm actually only at 2." She looked at him with her open interested eyes that weren't blocked off. He looked into her eyes and saw something again that he couldn't tell what it was. But it was something different than the usual thing he couldn't place. He rubbed the back of his neck but maintained his eye contact with her. "I cried when I thought you were dead." Her eyes changed a little. Deep down was still the unknown, but to the surface came what he decided looked like appreciation and gratitude. She smiled a little and then wrapped her arms tight around him. He was a little surprised. She was never affectionate; it was one of the things he really liked about her. Even though he didn't like showing affection, he felt like this was okay though. He returned the hug and stroked the back of her head with his hand.

"Fine, crying doesn't always make you a wimp." He couldn't see her face but he could feel her smile. They pulled out of the hug and he let his hands slide down her arms to her hands and hold them. Her hands were so small in his, and he just wanted to protect her from everything, and he hated that he wasn't there to protect her before and that he couldn't even be entirely now. But he had this moment now with her. Just the two of them and he could hold her and imagine that he could make everything okay for her. Their faces were close together but his eyes were looking off to the side. He could feel her light breath on his lips and fought not to get rid of the space in between them. He took a long blink and looked back into her beautiful eyes. They locked and time stopped for that moment, and neither of the two breathed. They just held each other's stare and everything was per_

A phone started buzzing and it reverberated throughout the expanses of the otherwise silent room, immediately taking them out of their world. Kaiba's slightly opened mouth closed and straightened out into a weak smile. She kept gazing at him for a moment then stood up and walked to a wall of the room to look at her phone and answered it. She stood listening and didn't talk much herself during the call, which seemed to Kaiba to last forever. Meanwhile he sat lonely on the piano bench and smiled meekly as he imagined slamming on the piano to bother the caller who ruined the perfect moment. But instead of executing his little fantasy, he just ran his finer along the wooden edge of the piano bench. Then he heard more buzzing, and realized his phone was going off as well. He stood up and quickly left the room so he could be out of the room by the time he answered. It was his work phone.

"Seto Kaiba."

"Yes, there's an emergency down here at the lab and we need you here immediately." He could tell by the urgency in his voice that it couldn't wait but he glanced back through the glass doors of the music room at Laken standing on the phone.

"Can it wait?"

"No, we need you down here right away!" His secretary hung up and Kaiba considered telling Laken he was leaving, but decided not to disturb her during her call and to just have one of his guards tell her when she was off. He sighed and summoned a guard to drive him to the building and one to tell Laken he was leaving. He watched the buildings pass in the window and thought. It would be okay, he'd have time.

2 years later

Kaiba sits alone on the stool of the white piano as the light snow outside continues falling on the already carpeted ground. It is daytime so the light makes the snow and the entire room bright. His hair hangs off his face disorganized but he pulls it off. He runs a hand through it and his hands begin gliding over the keys. No matter how hard he's tried, he can never get the same striking out of his hands that Laken did. He had all the grace that hers did but none of the strike. He stops playing frustrated and throws the music score to the ground. And he begins playing the only song he can think of that made his hands move the same way Laken's did on the piano. It is just 'Drops of Jupiter.' (if you don't know the lyrics it'll be helpful if you go look them up now, I highly recommend looking up the lyrics if you don't know them) Not a very sophisticated piano piece by any means. It isn't up to his skill level at all, but it's the only one that got the motion in his hands right. He doesn't need music to it any more. He had used the music only once and then knew it. It is embedded onto him now. And he has played it enough times over the past 2 years to have it down perfectly. He begins striking the rich notes and lets himself become engulfed in the sound. He never sings the lyrics to the song when he plays though. The lyrics just are part of the piano. The notes tell the story for him. He plays and looks out the window at the falling snow as he finishes. That's when he feels the presence behind him. He turns and sees Mokuba, now 17, standing in the doorway, looking at him with sad but understanding eyes. He walks over to his older brother and sits next to him on the piano bench without saying a word at first. After Mokuba stares at the piano for a while and the elder Kaiba stares at the snow the silence is finally broken.

"Drops of Jupiter?" The elder nods. "You were playing it without looking at the piano… How often do you play it?"

"It's a simple piece of music… probably once or twice a month…" Mokuba sits still, biting his lip.

"Look Seto, I'm sorry." Kaiba looks over at him perplexed and Mokuba can tell without looking that he is making that face, and it's good he can tell because he doesn't want to look. Instead he blushes. "I… I always pushed you toward her. You probably wouldn't have ever seen her again after the hospital if it wasn't for me… I'm sorry." He holds his head low so his black hair covers his face. After an unbearably long silence Mokuba looks up to see his older brother smiling smugly at him.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything." He ruffles his little brother's hair playfully. "Now get out of here, you little punk." Mokuba smiles weakly but genuinely and leaves the room as he was told. Kaiba sighs and walks over to the big window to see the snow falling. He looks upward to see the flakes falling and wonders if the same snow is falling over Laken… or whatever her name actually was. He smiles feebly and sighs as he returns to piano and begins the first few notes all over again.

/meanwhile/

Snowflakes fall from a dark night sky onto a bridge crossing a dark, cold river with chunks of ice drifting down it. The lights on the bridge shine through the snow and cars drive by and people in thick winter coats travel along the bridge sidewalk. A girl with green eyes and a scar walks slowly along the bridge and comes to an area without many other people hustling and bustling. She quietly sings to herself in the cold chill of winter, inaudible to all except herself. She looks up into the night sky and sees the flakes falling toward her growing. She catches one in her mouth and lets it melt. She turns back out to watch as the snow slowly coats the city lights and smiles at the sight. She crosses one arm and gently holds the coat sleeve of the other in her teeth. She stands and closes her eyes and continues singing. "He acts like summer and walks like rain, Reminds me that there's time to change." And she imagines a piano playing in the background somewhere out there.


End file.
